Sporting and exercise footwear are well known in the art. In particular, boots which contain a spring mechanism are known to absorb impact forces, increase muscle, and build cardiovascular performance. This bouncing footwear typically is used for physical fitness routines that incorporate bouncing, jumping, and plyometric exercises.
Bouncing footwear devices are known in the art as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,374 issued to Lekhtman et al on Jan. 8, 1985. As shown by this patent, the main unit has a spring member that is permanently attached to the foot receiving member. This can be inconvenient especially during storage and transport and prevents individual components from being replaced. Also, the layers which form the spring member are attached to each other and to an adjustment mechanism not capable of disassembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,798 granted to Gregory Lekhtman on Apr. 27, 1993, describes a sporting and exercising device comprising a foot receiving portion and a spring portion detachably attached to the bottom face of the foot receiving portion. A major drawback of this sporting and exercising device is that the spring portion collapses after about 7 centimeters (cm) (out of about 13 cm) of deformation by compression and lacks a smooth even elasticity. This reduces the ability to absorb increasing higher impact energies, thereby reducing the available bouncing power.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,148 granted to Denis Naville on Jul. 1, 1997 describes a sporting and exercising device comprising an upper foot-receiving portion and a lower spring portion. However, the resilient shock absorbing bodies disclosed prevent the spring portion from further collapse after a certain deformation by compression has been reached. A major drawback of this device is that the lower spring layer easily disassembles during higher impacts even on level surfaces. When a user is running in the device and accidentally engages the safety, the bottom layer disassembles causing the user to fall and or break ankles from landing on the disassembled top portion of the device.
Another drawback of this device is that there are only four resilient shock absorbers. This limits the return energy after an impact so the user is not able to maximize their bounce or rebound. Also, the shock absorbers are situated in the center of the elastic band and when the boot compresses it compromises the lateral stability of the device which results in the device unstably rocking left or right causing the user to easily disengage the lower spring layer. Another drawback is that the upper foot receiving portion sits completely flat on the lower spring portion. This forces the user's foot to stay in a forced flexed position throughout an exercise session which is extremely uncomfortable for the user causing the boot to rub against the skin.
A further drawback of the device is that it is extremely heavy creating a tendency for users to drag their feet while using the device. This leads to improperly compression of the device and decreases the life of the device and it's parts.
Another drawback is that the four resilient shock absorbers are slid into place which means under the repeated force of compressing the unit the shock absorbers have a high chance of sliding out resulting in failure of the unit which could cause potentially fatal harm to the user. Another major drawback is that the bottom tread on the lower layer does not extend a significant length of the ground contacting surface. If a user leans too far forward or too far back the tread may cease to contact the ground causing the user to skid on the exposed plastic shell and possibly fall injuring themselves. Another drawback of the device is that if a user does not have good balance or strong stability muscles they can fall forward if they go too far forward in the device or fall back if they go too far back in the device. There is nothing physically on the shoe such as a brake to prevent falling forward or falling back making users uncomfortable and afraid to try the device.
Based on the above-mentioned drawbacks, there is a strong need in the field for new and improved advanced sporting and exercise footwear devices. There is a further need for devices and apparatuses that are able to promote user safety and confidence. There is also a need for footwear apparatuses capable of being reconfigured for different activities and for replacement or substitution of the various components.